Vehicular Assault (Read 373 times)

I just paid $150.75 to register a 2006 Toyota 4Runner for another year. In Washington State, license plates are required by law to be replaced every seven years because - according to the DOL - "the reflective coating on the plates wears out." I also paid $15 for an emissions test.

Here's the breakdown:

Filing fee................................................ $3.00

Regional Transit Authority tax.......... $43.00

License fee......................................... $30.00

Weight base fee................................. $20.00

License service fee.............................. $ 0.75

Replacement plate fee...................... $20.00

Plate reflectorization fee...................... $4.00

Licensing office fee............................... $5.00

Congestion reduction charge........... $20.00

State Parks Account donation............. $5.00

Keeping your current plate number costs an additional $20.00. One would think that they could just reflectorize the old plates for $4.

Congestion reduction is a paradoxical oxymoron considering that the department operates by putting vehicles on the road.

----Thank you for Giving! --- Oh, wait, you didn't have a choice, did you?! "Required Donations", another Oxymoron.

PS. In Virginia, there are over 100+ different "Custom" plates you can get. Universities, sports, etc. (I have the "Duke" plate myself of course. -- There are other plates that folks get with alterior motives. Very witty....

---Oh, I could go on forever.... But VA is willing to take th 50 extra bucks a year apiece to put these plates out there. :-)

The Plan '15 → /// "Run Hard, Live Easy." ∞

xor

posted: 3/26/2013 at 9:35 AMmodified: 3/26/2013 at 9:36 AM

No, that's not a required donation. You can have that removed.

Also, in our state and others, if someone complains about your personal plate, it goes up for review by (who? I don't remember) and can be recalled. Sometimes people's plates have been recalled for questionable "that's not really dirty, and if so, what are the rules??" reasons. I'd bet five bucks that if enough people complained about "beats kids first", it would be gone... perhaps followed by the whole "what are the rules?" game.

WA state has had a long history of WTF car "tab" taxes. A big hunk of these were removed about 10 years ago after we voted to have that done, but slowly have come back as different things. There were also those years that our license plates helped fund the never-built-but-researched-forever monorail... that went about as well as the monorail in the simpsons without actually being built.

Renewing my WA state tags cost me something like $1200 last year after my car failed the silly state emissions test.

It really is atrocious. Back home in Arkansas it's 25 bones.

zonykel

posted: 3/26/2013 at 9:57 AM

updated 4/8/2009 4:39:05 PM ET

DMV denies vegan's tofu license plate request

The Associated Press

DENVER — Kelly Coffman-Lee wanted to tell the world about her love of tofu by picking the letters for her car's license plate.

But her tofu fondness ran into a snafu at the Division of Motor Vehicles, which blocked her plan because they thought the combination of letters could be interpreted as profane. Her suggestion for the plate on her Suzuki: "ILVTOFU."

Department of Revenue spokesman Mark Couch said the letters could be misinterpreted.

Coffman-Lee, 38, said tofu is a staple of her family's diet because they are vegan and that the DMV misinterpreted her message.

----Thank you for Giving! --- Oh, wait, you didn't have a choice, did you?! "Required Donations", another Oxymoron.

As SRL stated, the State Parks donation is not required but it is somewhat deceptive in that one must "opt out" by subtracting $5 from the payment.

One of these days is none of these days.

~ H.G. Bohn

cmb4314

posted: 3/26/2013 at 10:14 AM

I pay the state of Minnesota $150 for one car and $200 for the other one, yearly, to keep my registration. Somehow, they don't care up here about actually getting cars inspected, though. In PA the registration was cheap, but we had to have the regular car inspection and the emissions inspection every year.

Though, I learned on Saturday that I can deduct all but $30 of the Minnesota fees from my taxes. So that cut down the massive amount that I owe the government by a few bucks.

As SRL stated, the State Parks donation is not required but it is somewhat deceptive in that one must "opt out" by subtracting $5 from the payment.

Yep, to me it is in a sense an 'immoral' way of doing business, to "opt in" anyone for anything, simply knowing that people will not take the time to read through all the jargon and opt out. I understand WHY they do it: They get alot more cash in that way. But I disagree with it.

On fees, the list of fees is getting ridiculous in most states, I agree. And to get a speeding ticket these days? Virginia has it set up where if you are driving 80 in a 65MPH zone, you are absolutely SCREWED. Automatic Wreckless. Fines and fees can go over $4,000.00 for one ticket! (This has happened to folks I know here. I get over 80 on occasion in the open highway, but have been lucky....). I think they are getting carried away. We have to remember most folks are rolling along at about 75 already, so it is easy to touch 80 on occasion without realizing it and certainly without being 'wreckless'... From the VA website:

"This is a law that is gaining a great deal of attention as drivers are wondering whether it is even constitutional to gain such a great revenue from tickets alone. Why should motorists have to pay nearly $4,000 for going merely 15 MPH over, with yearly assessed taxes as well? Well, the reason is to keep speeders off the roadways and keep those drivers that are following the rules safe...."

The penalty far outweighs the crime on this. They are getting way out of control.

Not a license plate, but a week ago, I was at a stoplight behind a smaller SUV that had the stickers of their family (dad, mom, 3 little kids / pets, all look like stick figures). Anyway, I never really pay attention to them, but did happen to read that it was the "Ass family". I chuckled, and it was a longer light than normal, so I read more.

I just paid $150.75 to register a 2006 Toyota 4Runner for another year. In Washington State, license plates are required by law to be replaced every seven years because - according to the DOL - "the reflective coating on the plates wears out." I also paid $15 for an emissions test.

Here's the breakdown:

Filing fee................................................ $3.00

Regional Transit Authority tax.......... $43.00

License fee......................................... $30.00

Weight base fee................................. $20.00

License service fee.............................. $ 0.75

Replacement plate fee...................... $20.00

Plate reflectorization fee...................... $4.00

Licensing office fee............................... $5.00

Congestion reduction charge........... $20.00

State Parks Account donation............. $5.00

Keeping your current plate number costs an additional $20.00. One would think that they could just reflectorize the old plates for $4.

Congestion reduction is a paradoxical oxymoron considering that the department operates by putting vehicles on the road.

It's highway robbery!

Ugh, this is why I don't vote for Tim Eyeman's initiatives. It was supposed to make it a $30 flat fee to renew your tabs, but I always pay closer to $60 for tab renewal and we don't even have to do emissions testing in Central WA.

I just paid $150.75 to register a 2006 Toyota 4Runner for another year. In Washington State, license plates are required by law to be replaced every seven years because - according to the DOL - "the reflective coating on the plates wears out." I also paid $15 for an emissions test.....

What I really want to know is how I can put an umlaut in my user name!